Birds in your backyard

Look about you–no matter where you are in the city–chances are that
somewhere you'll see a bird flying in the sky, gathering food on the
ground or hiding in some bushes. Or close your eyes and listen; above
the sounds of traffic you can almost always hear a bird singing or a gull
screeching in the background. Birds are all about us, in the country
and the city.
During the winter when the leaves are off our trees and our feathered friends are
looking for food, it is easier to spot familiar and sometimes rare birds and enjoy their
songs piercing the crisp winter air. On snowy banks we watch sparrows, pigeons,
gulls and Canadian geese gathering bits of food. Small bouncy chickadees line up
on tree branches with their familiar 'chick-a-dee-dee' call, bright red cardinals (the
male!) sings its clear whistle, 'cheer-cheer-cheer', and hardly a day goes by without
seeing, or hearing, our brilliant blue jays.

Gold Finch

Blue Jay

Canadian Geese

Black-capped Chickadee

Changing conditions, different birds

This past year, bird watchers in Toronto
were treated to some rare sightings–a few
spotted the Eastern Screech Owl, Northern
Mocking Bird, and Hooded Merganser.
Others noticed robins during our warmer
winters (even though they usually fly
south) and it is more common now to see
Baltimore Orioles as they move north from
the USA to breed. A couple of decades ago,
spotting a Cardinal was difficult, today
Cardinals are a very common sight in our
backyards and parks.

Our changing environment

It's not your imagination, or lack of observation.
Over time, the kinds of birds we see in
our parks, our backyards and along the beaches
changes. Some birds that were very common
a few decades ago are almost impossible
to find now, and a few are more abundant.

The reasons why our bird population changes
are all connected to the altered habitat of
our birds and different environmental conditions.
There are various reasons for these
changes including the fact that today more
people feed birds during the winter!

Expanding city, fewer farms

As we know, over time our cities grow and
change. For example, as Toronto expanded
over the past 100 years, there was less
farmland. This affected the food and ecological
community for different species of birds. Food
and nesting material that birds depended on
changed or disappeared. Birds faced new prey,
different parasites, competitors, and predators
that they weren't used to.

Changing climate

Scientists also know that our climate
changes over time, which in turn, alters the
kinds of vegetation and therefore, birds in a
region. Climate changes happened as early
as 8,000 years ago when humans began
farming, but since the mid-20th century,
we've seen the increase in the average
temperature of the Earth's near-surface air
and oceans–known as global warming.
Warmer climates also alter the schedule for
when birds migrate, which in turn changes
the food they find. By waiting longer to fly
to their destination, the food they would
normally find on their arrival–such as caterpillars–
have already turned into butterflies.
All of these reasons make it easier for some
birds to survive, even thrive, and others to
move away in search of a new home.

Birds forced to change migratory patterns

Birds that migrate south for the winter also
have been affected by the growth of our
cities. Toronto is on the lakeshore beneath
one of the four world's busiest migratory
bird corridors, the Central Flyway. Birds
such as the Baltimore Oriole use the Central
Flyway to travel south, or north, across
and around the Great Lakes. Scientists
discovered that as taller buildings were
built along our coast lines, migratory birds
started hitting the windows of brightly lit
office towers.

Today, collisions with buildings are the
leading cause of bird death in North
America. It is slowly reducing our numbers
of approximately 64 species of migratory
birds. These birds include the Ruby
Throated Humming Bird and the Red-
Breasted Nuthatch.

Northern Mockingbird

Seagull

Mourning Dove

Sparrow

Different times – different birds

So what birds do, and don't we see in
Toronto these days?

Until the 1970s, the Northern Bobwhite
was a very common sight in southern
Ontario. No one sees Bobwhites in or
around Toronto today; in fact, the Ontario
Field Ornithologicals (OFA) lists the
Bobwhite on its endangered list. This is
because the expansion of agriculture that
started with our pioneers changed the
Bobwhites' habitat so much they couldn't
survive here any longer.

The Hooded Warbler faced a similar
challenge. As forests
were cut down in
Ontario and as our
climate warmed, the
Hooded Warbler had
difficultly finding
food. The Red-
Headed Woodpecker
also found it difficult
to survive in Ontario
because it depended
on woodlots with
dead trees for nesting;
such woodlots were
removed as the land was urbanized. The
Red Headed Woodpecker also faced
competition for food from starlings. Many
also died because of collisions with cars!
Many think of Gold Finches as a common
sight in their backyard but these lovely
songbirds can be more difficult to find
these days. Climate change and rising CO2
levels has affected their food supply and
their health.

Some remember Bluebirds from their youth
but by the 1960s the Ontario Eastern Bluebird,
had almost disapeared from farmlands
around Ontario. This is because Bluebirds
liked to nest in wooden fence posts,
which stopped being built as larger farms
replaced family farms. Today, thanks to
Bluebird activists that placed thousands of
boxes along fence lines as Bluebird "houses",
our Eastern Bluebirds have returned.
Several years ago students built about 200
Bluebird nesting boxes that were installed
at the Rouge Valley Conservation Centre.
Today, Rouge Valley is one of the few
places in Ontario you can see Bluebirds
once more.

Birds that thrive

Paradoxically, other birds that used to
be harder to find are now more common
because of changing conditions. The
chickadee, for example, is a hardy little
bird equipped to remain in Ontario over
winter. Because our winters are milder,
our chickadee population is thriving, even
in our cities. The Northern Cardinal can
withstand cooler temperatures but are
ground feeders. They will move from the
country into our city during the winter
simply because there is less snow, so it's
easier to find food.

Also start looking for the Bobolink. This
migratory songbird has always lived south
of the Great Lakes but the Bobolink is
expected to move north to Canada, coming
to your backyard soon!

The Peregrine Falcon population, almost
eliminated because of the use of the
pesticide DDT a couple of decades ago, is
thriving once more. Ontario banned DDT
then placed falcon chicks on buildings to
nest. As a result, the Peregrine Falcon has
adapted to urban living by nesting on high
rise buildings and condos.

Keeping track of our birds

Thanks to volunteers with organizations
like the Rouge Valley Winter Bird Count or
the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
we're actually able to track birds sighted in
communities across North America. Every
year, bird watchers send in checklists of
birds they spot so that conservationists can
monitor how our birds are doing.

In 2010–the 13th year of the GBBC–
participants reported 602 species in 11.2
million individual bird observations. The
patterns shown in the GBBC data is then
used to alert scientists of species that may
be in danger, or need more follow up study.

Hooded Merganser

Robin

Peregrine Falcon

Baltimore Oriole

Caring for our birds

There are many organizations
and interest groups dedicated
to saving our birds, rescuing
injured or stranded birds, or
researching what can be done
to help them adapt to their
new conditions. The first
organization in the world to
address the issue of migratory
birds colliding with buildings
was the Fatal Light Awareness
Program (FLAP). Since 1993,
FLAP volunteers have picked
up over 44,000 birds from 162
species in the Toronto region
– 40% have survived and were
released back into the wild.
FLAP is also very active in getting everyone from
building managers to municipal governments to
develop programs and policies that protect birds
from these hazards.

What you can do

You can help as well! There are many actions you
can take to get involved by learning more and doing
something about our changing bird population.

Count the birds

Help our birds

Find out what you can do to prevent collisions
in the office tower where you work or your
apartment. Also find out what you can do if you
find an injured bird. flap.org

Learn more about our Ontario birds. The Ontario
Field Ornothologist website gives a list of all birds
you can find here. ofa.ca

To prevent collisions with
windows where you live, hang
ribbons or other material
in strips no more than five
centimeters apart on the outside
of windows for the full width of
the glass. For even better results
consider using wind chimes.
At work, ask your building manager
to adopt the Bird-Friendly
Building program. If your building
is already enrolled, pass on
your congratulations!

Screech Owl

Grackle

Mallard Duck

Hooded Warbler

Feed our birds

Save yourself time in the
flowerbed by not dead-heading
flowers. Birds love to feed on
the seeds of flower heads such
as cone-flowers, tall marigolds,
zinnias, cosmos, core-opsis and sunflowers.
Leave plant material in your garden (such as dead
flower stalks) over the winter and keep leaves
under shrubs, because this provides protection
for birds.
Particularly during migration season, volunteer to
help improve your office or apartment building's
Bird-Friendliness. Start by turning off lights and
closing blinds at night.
Use a wide variety of native plants in your garden,
including those that produce seeds and berries, as
well as flowers that provide nectar and attract insects.

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to info@beachesliving.ca. Also let
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